Last dance: With his company all grown up, Jose Mateo steps aside

Jody Feinberg The Patriot Ledger

Tuesday

Apr 3, 2018 at 5:22 PMApr 5, 2018 at 9:23 AM

With major changes planned at Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre, this month is the last chance to see the choreographer’s works for at least two years. Mateo, who directs the company, school and dance festival, will shed his role as company director while a search for a new director is underway.

“The public will not be seeing my work for the next two years, and there is something bittersweet about it,” said Mateo, who grew up in Cuba and studied art history at Princeton before he started his company 32 years ago. “I fully understand that it’s a necessity to have new artistic direction given the ambitiousness of our goals."

The final program, “Moving Violations,” runs Friday through April 29 at the company’s home, The Sanctuary Theater in Harvard Square, which features cabaret-style seating just feet from the dancers and wine and beer during the show. Mateo selected three of his most popular dances: “House of Ballet,” “Schubert Adagio,” and a selection of pas de deux to the music of Argentinian composer Alberto Ginastera. He also choreographed an ambitious new work, New Pasts.

“I’m trying to respond to sum total of all my experiences over the last three decades with this company,” said Mateo, who received the 2017 Commonwealth Award for Achievement from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. “And I’m trying to present the company as the ambassadors and interpreters of these works.”

In anticipation of the transition to new leadership, a planning committee began meeting five years ago. It decided that the 17 company dancers will continue to perform "The Nutcracker," under Mateo’s direction, but no other dances. If they stay with the troupe during the next two years, the dancers will teach at the school, which has about 325 students in Cambridge and Dorchester studios, and work on Dance for World Community, a free weekend festival in June featuring nearly 90 performing groups and a multitude of classes for the 20,000 attendees. Mateo will continue to direct the school and Dance for World Community, which also offers a film festival, dance forums and other outreach programs year-round.

“All three (the company, school and festival) have grown, and it’s time I share the responsibility with others,” he said. “As a founder, I’ve dedicated myself to making a success of the organization and creating a model that works, but it’s not sustainable in the long term to have a single choreographer who also directs everything.”

The Sanctuary Theater in Cambridge, however, will not be vacant, since other dance companies are expected to perform there.

“We’re hoping to help new companies in the community emerge with higher visibility and opportunity to perform,” he said.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Dance for World Community will be June 9. It reflects Mateo’s belief that everyone can be a dancer and dance can be a force for improving the lives of individuals and communities.

Mateo said he is most proud of the way the company and the Dance for World Community Festival embody his philosophy of dance.

“My goal is not to push young people into dance careers, but to give them skills that will enrich them and prepare them to be more aware of the ways dance can be an important part of society,” he said. “My philosophy is holistic and inclusive, not for just a particular body type, but not at the expense of technical achievement. And I’m especially proud that the festival has been a way for everyone to understand the diversity of dance and develop an appreciation for all its forms and to see dance as an integral part of life.”